Eamonn Logue will wrestle at the University of Wyoming next year. TIMES FILE PHOTO
Eamonn Logue is a regular teenager, but during the quarantine, he’s been anything but typical.
At midnight, with school being held remotely, most kids are spending the overnight hours catching up on sleep, watching Netflix or playing PlayStation.
That’s not how Logue and his two brothers bring in the next day.
“It’s good because we can go up to the attic and wrestle, we have it set up, up there,” said Logue, a senior at Father Judge High School. “We’re all home, so we have a chance to do it. It’s not too loud, we don’t bother anyone. And we never let it get emotional. We know we’re just working to get better. We don’t take it personally, even if we get beat. We’re just trying to get better.”
Eammon is in a perfect spot in his family.
If he needs to get thrown around by a stronger guy, he can wrestle with his older brother Liam, a 2019 graduate of Judge who is now wrestling at the Coast Guard Academy.
If he needs to work on someone who is faster, he can drill with his younger brother Sean, a sophomore at Judge who this year took seventh place in the state tournament.
Both give him different looks, which means he has a chance to work on just about everything.
“Sean is so quick, he is great at getting in on my legs,” Logue said. “And Liam is strong. He’s doing great, too. Both are very good wrestlers and that helps you get stronger, and better. I think we’re all better because we have each other to work with.”
Logue was fortunate enough to finish up his high school career at Judge this year before the coronavirus shut everything down. He helped Judge win the Catholic League championship. He advanced to the state tournament for the second year in a row. He finished his illustrious career with 142 wins and four All-Catholic championships.
The only thing he didn’t get to participate in is the annual Catholic League banquet, where he was scheduled to get the Hal Selvey Award, which is named in memory of a Cardinal Dougherty grad for unselfish dedication and leadership, which pretty much sums up Logue’s entire career at Judge.
He exits Judge with three Catholic League team titles to his credit, including one this year that was one for the books, when the Crusaders knocked off Archbishop Ryan in a great match. This came a few weeks after the Raiders crunched Judge in the regular season.
“I think every other year that we won, we won it my freshman year and my junior year, too, we were expected to win,” Logue said. “Nobody expected us to win. But we did it. Champions wrestle like champions, and that’s what we thought going in. We knew we had to win tough matches. I had a tough match. We all did. It was close, they’re a good team.”
Logue knows hard work can be the difference between a good wrestler and a great one.
It’s why when the Crusaders would have morning practices, he would have to get up at 5:30 a.m. to get from his Roxborough home to Holmesburg in time to practice with his teammates.
And it’s why he did it with a smile on his face.
“I would drive, it would take a while to get there, but I wasn’t too tired because during wrestling season, I go to sleep early,” Logue said. “My brother would sleep on the way. I was tired, but I wasn’t too tired.”
These days, he doesn’t have to worry about traffic in going to school. But he wishes he would.
Logue is slated to graduate in June, but because of the coronavirus, everything is in flux.
“At first it was nice because we didn’t have to go in, but now I’m ready to go back,” Logue said. “It’s hard because I don’t live around there. It’s good because I have my friends from grade school around here and I have my friends at Judge. But I want to go back and see everyone. We’ll probably do something over the summer, but we’re not going to see everyone again.
“I’m not really talking about the guys on the wrestling team. They’ll be my friends for life. But everyone else, you never know.”
Next year, Logue will have to see his friends over FaceTime and social media. He’s going to wrestle at the University of Wyoming. It’s far, for sure, but it checks all the boxes he was looking for in a school.
“I wanted to go to a school in another state, I wanted to wrestle Division I and I wanted to go to a school with my major,” said Logue, who is ranked eighth in his senior class. “I love Pennsylvania, but I wanted to experience something else, see what else is out there, and it’s a great wrestling program.
“And I’m going to major in nursing. I’ve always done well in science, and I like that job. Doctors come in at the end, but nurses do a lot of work to help people get better. It’s hard, but I think I do pretty well in school so I should be able to do it.”
He’s happy about the future, but he’s also happy about his Judge career. The highlight was the end of this year, when he and three teammates went to Hershey for the state tournament.
“It was so much better because last year, I went alone,” Logue said. “This year, we had four guys go. It was me, (Matt) Kidwell, (Brenden) Spicer and my brother. It was good to go alone, but it was so much better to go as a team. It’s better because you have guys you’re doing it with. That makes it so much better.”
Even if it’s at midnight in an attic during a quarantine.
